Methods Employed by Suzhou Prison to Persecute Falun Gong Practitioners

(Minghui.org) The Suzhou Prison is located at Huangdai Township of Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Although the prison is named a “Modern Civilized Prison” for its resort-like environment, many Falun Gong practitioners had been tortured there in the past twenty years and a number of them died as a result of the persecution.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

I was once held in the Suzhou Prison in 2012 after being sentenced for exposing the persecution, so I knew from my personal experience that prison guards there were financially incentivized and often resorted to physical violence to force practitioners to give up their belief.

Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned there, myself included, were subjected to various forms of physical violence, including pinning them on the ground and using multiple electric batons to shock them; threatening and beating practitioners; forcing practitioners to sit on small stools for a long period of time; and forcing practitioners into excruciating positions, such as being in a split. Practitioners were also deprived of sleep and food.

Torture illustration: legs split

Falun Gong practitioners were forced to do unpaid labor at the prison as well. Those who refused were tied to stretchers and carried into noisy workshops. They were only released from stretchers when they agreed to work. For those who were on hunger strike, prison guards often force-fed them and intentionally caused excruciating pain by inserting feeding tubes harshly.

Torture illustration: force-feeding

Prison authorities also forced practitioners to write articles slandering Falun Gong and its founder. Sometimes, the guards would force practitioners to copy articles and signed their names. The guards received financial rewards by submitting these slandering articles.

In addition, Falun Gong practitioners were required to submit “thought reports” regularly. Those who refused were reprimanded. They were also subjected to frequent brainwashing and forced to watch videos that slandered Falun Gong.